


Love Cipher

by Kalikuks



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Cultural Differences in Flower Language, Demisexual Hanzo Shimada, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, Fluff and Humor, Language of Flowers, Love Confessions, Love Language, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Team Bonding, Team as Family, supportive boyfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 08:33:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19247578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalikuks/pseuds/Kalikuks
Summary: “Hanzo an’ I are actually together.” Jesse spells it out plain, no sense in beating around the bush, “Have been for a while now.”Hana’s jaw drops and Jesse’s glad she’s got a good hold on that mug of hers.“When did this happen?” Hana says, indignant for some reason, “How did this happen?”Jesse can’t help the soft, fond smile that crosses his face.“Would you believe with a cactus?”--------Everybody's got their own love language.Jesse's really good at understanding Hanzo's loud and clear, even when others don't get it.





	1. Lovers

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write a Demisexual Hanzo fic because I am Ace myself so -tosses this at you all- I hope you enjoy this little journey.
> 
> Not all I love you's are explicit, sometimes those three words are shown through action or even entirely different words. So this fic is also an exploration of love as a language all its own. Hopefully, I can accurately put to words what I am trying to accomplish as this fic continues. 
> 
> Prepare for an incredibly sappy ride.

Jesse’s not even three feet off of the returned transport when Hanzo steps into stride with him. Jesse can feel his eyes on him, but it’s only once they turn the corner, into a more private hallway, that Hanzo speaks.

“You are well?” Hanzo voices, quiet and low.

Hanzo hadn’t been on the mission, having been sent out on reconnaissance earlier in the week. This mission Jesse and a handful of others had just returned from had been an emergency response, and it had been rough. Jesse wants nothing more than to crawl into bed, but he’s happy to see Hanzo all the same.

Jesse digs around in his pockets, digging out a cigarillo and putting it between his teeth, “More’r less. You?”

“It was a false lead.” Hanzo states, eyes forward, an unhappy set to his mouth, “That, or Talon figured out their business front didn’t hold up as well as the others and they dismantled it before we could even investigate.”

“Sorry t’hear that,” Jesse pats at his pockets for his lighter, but Hanzo reaches into his pouch and pulls out his own, “Thank ya.” Jesse lights up and takes a drag, waving his hand dismissively when Athena reminds him that smoking in the halls is prohibited, “Can’t always be on top of those Talon bastards, I wouldn’t take it too personal that it went tits up for you.”

“Still, I am not fond of the uncertainties this leaves us with.” They both stop in front of Jesse’s dorm and Hanzo crosses his arms as he speaks, “I do not like not knowing what they are up to.”

“They’ll haveta slip up sometime,” Jesse reassures, gives Hanzo a crooked grin around the cigarillo, “An’ then we’ll be there to dole out some due justice.”

“Perhaps.” Hanzo murmurs with eyes downcast, not reassured in the slightest.

Jesse gently places a hand on Hanzo’s shoulder, “We’ll get ‘em. Promise ya.”

Hanzo merely nods, but he looks to Jesse finally and motions with his chin to Jesse’s door, “You should rest, you look awful.”

“I know.” Jesse laughs and removes his hat, placing it over his heart as he sends a soft grin Hanzo’s way, “See you tomorrow mornin’?”

“Of course. The usual?” Hanzo replies, finally smiling even if it’s the slightest of upturned lips.

“O’course,” Jesse pulls the cigarillo from his mouth as he steps up to Hanzo and leans in, brushing his lips against Hanzo’s forehead, “Look forwards ta you bein’ the first person I see.”

Hanzo only snorts in response and shoves Jesse back lightly towards his door, “ _Rest_ , you are already saying foolish things in your exhaustion.”

“I’m goin’,” Jesse turns back to his door and yawns, his body betraying him to prove Hanzo’s point.

Hanzo’s already entered his key code for the door by the time Jesse gets the yawn under control, and he sends the archer a thumbs up as he slips through the opening. He doesn’t remember getting ready for bed, more or less falls into it, looking forward to breakfast as his body sinks into sleep.

He wakes early and gets ready for the day, but despite his words to Hanzo the previous day, Hana is the first person Jesse sees in the morning. She’s in the kitchen brewing coffee, and from the label on the tin, she’s brewing up a pot of Angela’s death brew. She must have had a livestream last night. Jesse wrinkles his nose and resigns himself to having tea with Hanzo this morning until a new batch of coffee can be made. 

Hana must notice him start preparing Hanzo’s favourite because she cocks her head questioningly at him, “Didn’t think you were a tea person. Will Hanzo appreciate you using his tea?”

“He’ll appreciate havin’ a ready-made cup waitin’,” Jesse replies cheerily, pulling down two mugs— his own and Hanzo’s— and setting them aside while the kettle boils.

“Yeah, alright, sure,” Hana turns to him and dramatically pouts, placing over a hand over her heart as if mortally wounded, “But you never make _me_ tea and have it ready for _me_ in the morning!”

“Ya don’t drink it.” Jesse responds, playfully flicking her nose. 

“Neither do you!”

Jesse has to laugh at that, “It’s better than that sludge you’re makin’ in the coffee pot, and I’ve had my share of shit coffee!”

Both Hana and Jesse concentrate on making their beverage of choice throwing teasing quips back and forth. Jesse is mindful of the temperature of the tea and makes sure the kettle is off before the water becomes too hot. He’d learnt after much practice that certain teas taste better at certain temperatures. Hanzo had been the one to inform Jesse that he likely didn’t like many teas because he _burnt_ them.

Jesse smiles a little to himself at the thought of Hanzo.

“So,” Hana interrupts his thoughts, finally holding and sipping slowly at her coffee, “You and Hanzo seem awfully buddy buddy lately?”

_Lately? Buddy buddy?_

His confusion must show on his face because Hana gives him a look, “You two spend a lot of time together! Which honestly, is probably good for him, he seems a little,” she scrunches her nose as she thinks of the word, “Cold? At times? He’s not as bad as when he showed up, don’t get me wrong, and I don’t know the guy too well—“

“I’m gonna stop ya there, Hana,” Jesse says, casting a glance sideways at her as he pours the water in his and Hanzo’s mugs to steep the tea.

He sets a timer so they don’t steep too long and turns to her as he ponders how to break this to her. Preferably without her freaking out. Hanzo himself had given his blessing long ago to simply inform the others of what was going on between them. Neither of them has a reason to hide this from the team anyway. It is surprising no one’s picked up on it yet.

“Hanzo an’ I are _actually_ together.” Jesse spells it out plain, no sense in beating around the bush, “Have been for a while now.”

Hana’s jaw drops and Jesse’s glad she’s got a good hold on that mug of hers.

“When did this happen?” Hana says, indignant for some reason, “ _How_ did this happen?”

Jesse can’t help the soft, fond smile that crosses his face.

“Would you believe with a cactus?”


	2. The Cactus

“You are one-hundred percent overthinking this.”

Satya sits on the small love seat in her dorm, Hanzo in front of her as she helps him with his hair. Nothing major, just touching up the edges of his undercut. A hard light straight razor just makes the edges nice and neat where some razors just can’t. Plus, Hanzo always appreciated her eye for perfection.

Especially now, when he intends to impress a suitor.

He’s been hemming and hawing, and downright _agonizing_ , over asking the resident cowboy out. Hanzo had even devised, in Satya’s mind, a pretty decent plan to do so. However, he’s caught up on the minor details, as always.

“I can’t give him the plant.” Hanzo laments, practically glaring at the thing, “What if he takes it the wrong way?”

The cactus sits, unassuming and unaware of just how much trouble it is causing, on Satya’s coffee table. McCree and Hanzo spend a lot of time in each other’s dorms for their movie nights, so Hanzo recruited Satya’s assistance in hiding the cactus from him until the time was right to give McCree the present. McCree had expressed recently a homesickness to Hanzo, and as such, Hanzo set out to get him a cactus to ease it.

It's a small golden barrel cactus, in a medium-sized pot to allow for growth. Hanzo had researched its proper care to ensure it didn’t die before being gifted. They are native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States, more or less a perfect gift for a homesick cowboy who once roamed said areas.

Hanzo’s just hung up on a fact that McCree might not even _know_ , is the thing. The problem is Hanzo _knows_ , apparently having studied _Hanakotoba_ at some point in his youth. And for the life of him, he won’t let it go, much to Satya’s continued disbelief and slow building annoyance.

“Is it not the blooms that will be taken the wrong way?” Satya admonishes, shoving at Hanzo lightly to get him to change position slightly so she can clean up another edge of his undercut, “You said it was the cactus _flowers_ that represent that which you do not wish to be communicated. The cactus is not in bloom, and unless it has continued exposure to sunlight for two seasons straight, it will not.”

“Yes but—“

“You are _overthinking_.” Satya taps the flat of the razor on top of Hanzo’s head, “Overthinking! Even if it _were_ the message you wish to send, I highly doubt Agent McCree has received training in the art of _Hanakotoba_ as you have. He would not see it as anything more than a very sweet gesture from a close friend. A very dear friend of his who wants to be _more_ than friends, and has been pining in silence for _months_.”

Content with her work and her speech, Satya flicks the razor out of existence and starts going about helping Hanzo clean the trimmed hair from his clothes. Hanzo just stews in silence while she does so. Eventually, he sighs once she moves away to toss the clippings out.

“You’re right.” He admits, rubbing his temples.

“Seldom are the times I am wrong,” Satya replies, sitting down once more, patting the seat next to her for Hanzo.

Hanzo gets off the floor and sits next to her, staring at the cactus. Satya gently places a hand on his shoulder, gives it a reassuring squeeze.

“You cannot know his answer unless you ask him, Hanzo.” She says softer than her previous scoldings, “And I do not think the fallout will be as devastating as you think if he does not return your feelings. You both are fast friends, and I do not see your confession changing that if he rebuffs your advances. Agent McCree is your best friend.” Her tone gets light and teasing, “Aside from _me,_ of course.”

Hanzo laughs a little at that, “Thank you, Satya. For everything. I do not know what I would do without you sometimes.”

“Have to live without seeing my beautiful visage, and be bereft of my inspiring grace and dignity.”

Hanzo snorts at that and so does Satya seconds after she says that. When their shared laughter dies down, she nudges him with her shoulder.

“You need to take our cactus friend and go tell your cowboy how you feel. Was that not the purpose of you having come crawling to me to make sure your hair was in order? Tonight is one of your movie nights, right?”

“Yes, it is. I’ll be meeting up with Jesse very soon.” Hanzo can’t help but fiddle with his sleeves a little, but looks up from the cactus to Satya, “I think I _will_ tell him tonight.”

“Good.” Satya gives him another reassuring pat on his shoulder, “I wish you and our prickly friend the best of luck.”

“Thank you.”

Hanzo gathers the potted cactus up. He ends up thanking Satya again when she helpfully places a light headscarf over the cactus to conceal the gift until it and Hanzo make it to their destination. She helps him fuss over his clothing and hair quickly once more, and once they both are content, Satya gives him a nod. 

Hanzo returns it, takes a deep breath, and leaves Satya's room to head to Jesse’s for their movie night.

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna chat at me about McHanzo or any other of the pairings I ship, catch me on my fic tumblr [Angstgremlin](http://angstgremlin.tumblr.com) or you can now find me at my Twitter [Angstgremlin](https://twitter.com/Angstgremlin)


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